This application relates generally to financial transfers. More specifically, this application relates to methods and systems for implementing money transfers using digital cash.
Currently, there are a variety of different ways in which funds may be transferred from one person to another. Perhaps the simplest of such different types of transfers is a simple cash transfer in which one person hands cash to another person. While such a simple technique is clearly adequate when the parties are together and have sufficient cash on hand, it is generally impractical when the parties are separated and/or the amounts to be transferred are larger. Transmission of cash by mail is subject to a variety of risks of loss or theft. This risk may be mitigated through the use of negotiable instruments that identify a payee. With such techniques, funds are transferred by preparing an instrument, usually drawn on a bank or other financial institution, and transmitting it to the payee by mail or using some similar transmission service.
While the use of negotiable instruments is satisfactory for a number of different circumstances, they are impractical in many others. For instance, the transmission time of physical checks may sometimes be undesirably long, particularly in emergency situations where funds need to be transferred quickly. In some cases, transfers to other countries may cause difficulties with currency exchanges if neither the sender nor recipient is equipped to accommodate the currency differences. The use of checks is also often not an option for a certain population segment that rarely or never uses banking services. In these and a variety of other circumstances, other techniques for transferring funds are desirable.